Bear Lake

Right after all the craziness of 4th of July, we tried to get as much sleep as we could.  But Thursday morning did come and we had more plans!  It was raining horribly!  But that couldn't change our plans.  We packed up and headed to Bear Lake!  (Also while we were waiting at Eric and Natalie's we got an email saying they had accepted us as tenants for the home we had applied to in Houston!  Happy day!)

We got settled in and a enjoyed a quiet night in the cabin.  It was too rainy to be outside and everyone was pretty exhausted from the night before so we hit the hay!

Friday was a much better day weather wise.  We decided to head over to Rendezvous Beach.  Everyone seemed to have a great time.

Brian and Christian had decided to sail over the beach, but there wasn't a whole lot of wind.  So it took them a very long time to get there.  Way back in the distance...

That's them!  Pretty far away.  But they did eventually make it!

Maddix built a little castle all on his own.

He was so excited about the little flag he put in it!

Beckam was most happy to be out of the sand, and up on a chair!

He really did not like touching the sand at all.  I tried to have him sit in it, but he HATED it!

He was okay with sitting on my lap.  We slowly filled the bucket, but it still wasn't his favorite at all!

The boys were so interested in how daddy made "the perfect" sand castle.

Just the right amount of sand and water.

Beckam sure loves his Oma!

The boys were quite entertained by Uncle Eric and his mad skills at starting a fire with no matches!

So entertained they jumped at the chance to help take the equipment back to the garage! :)

Then right back to the fire pit.  Oma went in to get a "surprise."  Jaden and Maddix didn't want to know what the surprise was.  But Kyler kept saying he was going to tell them.

It's....it's... okay, now they can't wait anymore!

GLOW STICKS!!!!

They love those things!

Kyler was swinging his around so crazy!

It broke apart and some of it went into the fire!  Oops!  We all enjoyed roasting marshmallows and learning to make S'MOreos!  Fun idea Nat!  Yum!

We saw a pelican out on the water early in the morning 2 days in a row.  It was had to get a picture.  He was pretty fast!

 Saturday the kids went exploring.  They really didn't like going through the mud at all!  The tall grass seemed safer!

Uncle Eric saw a small snake and caught it!  We had to find a bucket big enough for him to not escape!

Then Eric let it out and showed the boys how to catch it!  They each took turns.  They all caught it!  I was really proud of my boys.  Maddix was much better at this and has obviously been exposed to snakes more. :)  My boys were a bit nervous but did it nonetheless!

LOVE this picture!  Mostly because of the expressions of Maddix and Kyler.  They were all so excited!

We decided that today was a great day for a hike.  Beckam loved laying on daddy's head!  So cute!  What a trooper!

Check out this crazy tree!  It grew up, then over, then up again!

And this is where the hike took us.  6 trees all grown together.  It was pretty incredible.

Eric brought his RZR up so after naptimes we took it out for a ride.  It was so pretty.  We crossed about 7 brooks/ streams on this particular trail.  Christian got out here to take a picture.

There's me and Jaden!  Kyler had gone earlier with Eric and Maddix.  Then we drove some more, heading back.  All of a sudden Christian says "I lost my wedding ring!"  We back trail about 10 minutes hoping to find it where he got out here and took the picture.  (His hands were on the wheel the rest of the time.)  As soon as he got out of the RZR he saw it next to his seat!  So glad it didn't fall out!  That's the second time he's lost it and found it!

We saw 2 deer, rabbits, prairie dogs, and lots of cows on the trail.  This one REALLY scared us.  I'm glad he eventually moved.  It was actually pretty intimidating having him "watch" us.  Eric and Nat had to leave after dinner.  We're going to miss having family close by when we live in Houston.  It was nice to hang out one last time!

Sunday, Oma and Grandpa packed up with Jaden and Kyler.  My camera was out of room, so I spent a bit of time deleting stuff so I could get a picture of them leaving in the car with Grandparents.  Then life happened, and I forgot to take a picture!  We waved and waved, blew kisses and waved some more.  then they were gone.  And they had a very long day driving back to Sacramento!  Beckam helped us clean up the cabin.

That was a cute picture until you realize he's wrapped himself in the vacuum cord!  Crazy kid!

It's going to be a quiet 2 1/2 weeks without Jaden and Kyler.  We're going to miss them!  And when they come home, we are moving to Texas!  Yikes!

4th of July

I'm so glad it worked out to see Michael and Stephanie and their boys!  Then Jennie and Dalin showed up as a surprise as well! So fun!

 What a handsome bunch of cousins!  Amika with all the boys! Kolby, Courtland, Camden, Jaden, Beckam, Kyler, Isaac, Taelin, and Lijah.

 We headed over to the Provo 4th of July Parade!  Not 1 piece of candy thrown!  My boys kept saying that the parade in Lehi was better :)

 What a bunch!

Grandpa, Jaden and Taelin left a bit early.

 When we were all done with the parade, we were planning on heading up to Highland to hike the Timpanogos caves.  But yesterday there was a really bad fire that started on the mountain up that way and UDOT closed the road! :( So instead we played at the park!

 The boys loved having grandpa throw them the frisbe.  Even some other kids there joined in.  We played bocce ball too.  We sure wore them all out!

Dalin got his workout in too!

Group shot!

Now the sisters!

 Don't remember who requested this, but thought it turned out pretty cute!

When everyone was done playing at the park we crammed back at our place and watched Rio hoping some of them would take a nap!  It was only hopes.

  After a taco salad dinner we headed to Our Spot!

 Kyler threw down his whole pack of POPS all at once!

Then he took some time to show Beckam how to do it!  What a great older brother!

 Everyone seemed to have a great time!

 Can you see the football?

9 years we've come to this spot!  The fireworks are always great!  It was so much fun having so much family in town to share in this with us.  Alan and Jenn, we sure missed you!